PLYMOUTH Â? A forklift accident at a local factory Friday morning claimed the life of a 55-year-old Michigan man.

Police and medical personnel were called to Hehr International, in the 1100 block of North Oak Road, shortly after noon, to investigate a report of a man trapped under a load of wood.

Sgt. Mark Owen of the Plymouth Police Department said that responding officers discovered a semi parked on the south side of the building, with a man underneath a pile of wood on the ground by the truck.

Apparently, he said, the victim was the driver of the truck, who had been standing by while a forklift operator removed bundles of boards from the flatbed trailer on the semi.

Â?He was just watching,Â? Owen said. Â?As the forklift was removing the wood, itÂ?s load became unbalanced, and it tipped onto the victim.Â?

The man, whose name and hometown were not released pending notification of the victimÂ?s family, was extricated from beneath the wood and taken to Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center in Plymouth to be prepared for transport by helicopter to a different hospital. He was pronounced dead, however, before the airlift could take place.

At the factory Friday afternoon, workers cleaning up the spilled load of wood declined to comment. A spokesman for the company told The Tribune that the company was investigating the accident, and declined to release any further information.